Dear [__]
As you may have seen this week, The Guardian newspaper published internal documents from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that shed light on the Koch brothers-backed group's shady operations and efforts to pass pro-big business legislation at the state level — like supporting the Keystone XL pipeline.
In ALEC board documents published by The Guardian¹, ALEC proposed that state chairs like Nebraska State Senator Jim Smith — and possibly other ALEC members, who in Nebraska include State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Beau McCoy, and Sens. Mark Christenson, Thomas Hansen and Tyson Larson — take an oath to ALEC:"I will act with loyalty and put the interests of the organization [ALEC] first."
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The oath would also require legislators to be "morally responsible for the health and well being" of ALEC, and insist they "inform ALEC of any public records/FOIA requests that include ALEC documents," which underscores ALEC’s pattern of trying to hide communications with lawmakers from long-standing state transparency laws.
Sen. Jim Smith took an oath to represent the people of Nebraska, not ALEC's corporate sponsors and extreme right-wing agenda. Smith needs to resign from ALEC, and stop doing the bidding of this shady corporate lobbying group.
Tell State Sen. Jim Smith: Resign as ALEC's state chair in Nebraska.Click here to sign the petition.
Fellow Nebraska State Senator Danielle Conrad, a former member of ALEC, said this week that she quit the "shadowy group" after it made a "radical shift."² She says ALEC is now "having dramatic, negative effects on our democracy."³
Sen. Conrad isn't the only one to quit ALEC recently. In Nebraska, there are currently only FIVE state senators left willing to attach their name to such an extreme group. Last year that number was at 17, but dropped off precipitourly because of the work of groups like Bold Nebraska and Common Cause to shine a light on big corporations handing state senators bills to present as their own.
Amid widespread public criticism of ALEC over its lobbying for corporate interests and backing of controversial "Voter ID" laws that make it harder for Americans to vote, at least 50 corporate sponsors have deserted ALEC in the past two years, including Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, McDonalds and Walmart. Just this week, VISA announced that it also has withdrawn its support for ALEC.⁴
But can you guess which one of ALEC's corporate sponsors is still proudly standing behind them? None other than TransCanada, which counts on ALEC to help push for the Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska.
Resolutions urging the President and Congress to approve Keystone XL that were written by ALEC and include paragraphs lifted directly from TransCanada's own public relations talking points were introduced in six states by legislators beholden to ALEC.⁵
In Nebraska, Sen. Jim Smith did the bidding of ALEC and TransCanada by introducing LB 1161, the bill that fast-tracked the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline route in Nebraska. Smith is also the subject of an outstanding state ethics board complaint, over his extravagant ALEC-funded trip up to the tarsands of Alberta, where he toured TransCanada's headquarters and was wined and dined by the lobby group at a venue called (we're not joking) "The Petroleum Club."⁶
Tell Sen. Jim Smith to represent his constituents, not Big Oil and corporations, and resign as chair of ALEC in Nebraska. Click here to add your name to the petition.
Bold Nebraska published an in-depth report this week that details ALEC's influence on Nebraska state policies. In addition to pushing for Keystone XL, ALEC members in Nebraska are advancing legislation to:
Privatize our schools through charter schools and tax credit school vouchers
Advance radical gun laws including the infamous "Stand Your Ground" law
Needlessly complicate the voting process
Rig the legal system to benefit ALEC’s corporate sponsors
Implement constitutionally suspect anti-immigrant measures
The leaders we elect must represent their constituents, not take oaths pledging to serve the interests of corporations and an extreme right-wing agenda above all else.
Tell Sen. Jim Smith: Resign as chair of ALEC in Nebraska. Click here to sign the petition:
http://petitions.moveon.org/...
Thanks for all you do.
Jane Kleeb and the Bold Nebraska team